Dozens of organizations protest against German project to restore stolen houses in Syria’s Afrin
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Thursday, media organizations and institutions in northern Syria asserted that the efforts of the German Welthungerhilfe (World Hunger Aid) organization to restore dozens of seized homes in Afrin, in the northern countryside of Aleppo, encourages demographic change and theft of civilian property.
28 organizations, associations and media networks based in northern Syria sent a letter to Welthungerhilfe, calling on it to withdraw support and financing for the project of restoring seized homes in Afrin.
The organization’s branch in the Turkish city of Gaziantep announced the cladding and restoration of 400 houses in Syria’s Azaz and Afrin regions, claiming that the homes housed displaced people.
Last week, the Violations Documentation Center in Northern Syria (VDC-NSY) posted a Twitter thread showing screenshots from Welthungerhilfe’s social media, which explained that 150 houses in Afrin would be restored by the organization. VDC-NSY added that many of these homes were stolen from Afrin’s indigenous residents and now house the families of Turkish-backed militants, many of whom have committed war crimes and some of whom are currently fighting alongside Turkish-backed forces in Libya and Azerbaijan.
Afrin has been witnessing security chaos such as kidnapping, theft, and murder, which has led to the death and injury of dozens of residents there, since Turkey and its affiliated opposition armed groups took control of Afrin on March 18, 2018.
Organizations protesting Welthungerhilfe’s project explained that “although the aid was in good faith, it contributes directly to perpetuating the occupation, settlement, demographic change, and theft of private property of displaced Kurds.”
In mid-September, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria’s latest report stated that Kurdish property in the Afrin region was looted and seized by members of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army in a coordinated manner.
The letter to Welthungerhilfe warned of the existence of Turkish projects to perpetuate its occupation, implement demographic change, and steal land and real estate from the displaced Kurds residing in camps around Afrin.